Have you got the right family health cover?

Updated on 27th May 2018 by Lindsay Yap|

Singapore has fantastic healthcare, but it can be pricey for expats as they don’t have access to many of the government-run schemes and subsidies. So, choosing the right plan is a big deal – especially if you have a family. Here, the team at APRIL International offers some essential things to consider when choosing family health insurance.

Base your decision on the needs of your family

Depending where you are in your journey through life, you’ll require different things from your health insurance. If you’re still planning to have children, then you may want to include maternity coverage. For families with younger children, covering vaccinations could be something to consider. If your children are a little older, you might be interested in dental benefits that’ll come in handy for visits to the orthodontist.

Heading on a family vacation?

What to keep in mind when choosing health insurance:

#1 Inpatient coverage

The biggest medical expense you and your family could face is unexpected injury or illness that requires hospitalisation or surgery. Depending on the severity, hospital procedures can cost thousands of dollars, running up to tens of thousands for treatment in a private facility. So, you’ll want to look for a health insurance plan that has high overall benefits, especially if you have a larger family. Also avoid policies that single out and limit covering treatments for particularly costly conditions – you don’t want to pay out of pocket when you need your insurance the most!

Got a teen that needs braces?

#2 Outpatient coverage

Having a family can mean lots of trips to the doctor with kids. Whether it’s fevers or ear infections, children take a lot of looking after. Getting medical insurance with outpatient coverage means that all your scans, tests and medicines at a GP or specialist will be fully covered. As part of their outpatient benefits package, some insurers include coverage for vaccinations and checkups that young children need. So depending on the age of your kids, this is worth looking into.

#3 International coverage

A benefit of international medical plans is that they’re portable – a great help for globally mobile expats. If you need to relocate your family to another country, an international insurance policy can travel with you with no interruptions in your cover. There’s no need to fuss with getting a new policy that can put you at risk of getting written down for pre-existing conditions.

#4 Cost effectiveness

It’s important to balance the quality of the plan you’re buying with the overall cost. Some insurers offer discounts to families. APRIL International Care’s MyHEALTH insurance plan offers up to a 15% discount for families of five or more. The plan also allows easy addition of new family members to the plan on a prorated basis.

Cover your little one’s visits to the doctor

#5 Direct billing

We’d rather spend time with our family than fiddle around with paperwork, doubly so when dealing with the stress of a trip to the doctor. So it’s important that the health insurance you opt for is not a complete nightmare to use. This is where finding an insurance company with a substantial direct billing network comes in handy.

While most international health insurance providers are able to pay hospitals directly for any treatment needed, it can also be worth looking for a company that offers an outpatient direct billing network as well. For instance, APRIL International Care has over 800 doctors and clinics participating in their direct outpatient billing network in Singapore alone.

About Lindsay Yap

Lindsay has an (un)healthy obsession with strawberries and a huge weakness for bags (who doesn't really?). When she's not pigging out on her favourite hawker food or catching up on sitcoms, she's dreaming of her next holiday!